Kristen Bell's pregnancy with daughter Lincoln was filled with a lot of worry. The 33-year-old actress became a first-time mom in March when she welcomed her baby girl with now-husband Dax Shepard. In the December issue of Flare magazine, the 33-year-old actress admits that she only bonded with her baby after giving birth -- and not much at all during her pregnancy.

"I kept saying to Dax in all sincerity during my pregnancy, 'I just don't know how I'm going to like her as much as I like the dogs.' I was being serious," Bell confesses to the magazine (via Just Jared). "Because I f--king love my dogs; they are my children."

For the "Veronica Mars" star, it took all nine months -- and a little time after -- to feel close with her daughter.

"I love people the more I know them, and I didn't know her. It could've been a water bottle in my belly, that's about how connected I felt to her during my pregnancy," she shares. "But within about 24 hours after she came out, my hormones reset, and they reprogrammed my feelings about her."

Bell and Shepard, 38, wed last month in a no-frills ceremony at the Beverly Hills County Clerk's Office after six years of dating. The couple got engaged in 2009, but vowed not to marry until same-sex marriage bans were overturned.

The secret to their strong relationship? "Our main rule is: Check your ego at the door, and be aware of when the other person is spinning out," Bell tells the magazine. "As artists, everything is vanity -- and narcissism -- driven: my career, the strategy behind it, the next level I want to hit, my photo shoot, how I was in my acting scene, my premiere. So we try to do a really good job of being human beings in the rest of our life."

At the Gorilla Love event in Beverly Hills on Nov. 4, Bell told Us Weekly that married life is "wonderfully the same." When asked about baby Lincoln's latest milestones, she joked, "She's still a blob!"

For more of Bell's interview with Flare, pick up the December issue on newsstands now.